


Finding Your Place

by girlofshadows1



Category: Knight Rider (1982)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-04-23 19:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 15,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14339181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlofshadows1/pseuds/girlofshadows1
Summary: The world is rocked by a shocking discovery, and K.I.T.T. has disappeared without a trace. How are the two events connected? Where is K.I.T.T?





	1. Prologue

The journalist sat at her desk, typing the greatest story of her career painstakingly into a word document. She was very fortunate to have ended up with the information for this article. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time. If she wasn’t there, then someone else would have ended up with the big scoop. This was her moment to shine. She just had to have the story written and submitted in less than an hour.

What should the headline be? Something like ‘The Scandal of Fiction,’ or something more subtle like ‘Surprising Secret That Fiction Writers Don’t Want You to Know.’ After a moment of intense thought, she decided that the louder and catchier the headline the better. The whole world needed to know about this, as the information her story would drastically change life as we know it.

***

Twenty-four hours later the world was buzzing with the news, reporters were swarming major TV companies like the BBC and NBC, firing questions like bullets. ‘How long had this been going on?’ ‘Why was the truth hidden from the public?’ ‘Who invented the technology?’ Lines of questioning took place for hours before the doors were closed completely and the world was once again shut out. 

It was less than half an hour before all the questions were answered. The BBC aired a short broadcast on the matter. The wording was something along the lines of this:  
‘Greetings. Considering recent events, we feel that it is time to reveal the truth about works of fiction that have been produced. What I am about to tell you may come as a bit of a shock. Each book, play, TV show and movie that you thought were works of fiction are actually true. The events not taking place in this universe. In fact, each story having taken place in another universe and documented for your entertainment. All books converted to movies are events that have taken place in the known universes, and were easily accessible to film crews. Stories in other written works of fiction are events known to have taken place, however there is limited, to no access to these universes at this time.  
Ever since 1948, each TV and film production company has had access to universal shift technology allowing our employees to travel to these universes, many of which are similar to our own. Specific information on the technology will not be made available at this time.   
All people who knew of this had sworn to keep this secret unless a time arrived where we felt it necessary to reveal this to you.   
Now that the technology has been revealed to you all, it will be made available to the public, so that you may experience being in another universe for yourselves. Please stand by for other announcements’  
The journalist watched the broadcast with satisfaction. They had done it. The truth was out and there was no turning back.


	2. Chapter 1

Kitt:

Michael and I had gone out on another mission and Michael had decided to do something stupid. How very unusual, I thought drily. Against my advice he had decided to break into the enemy’s headquarters, and I was left here, unable to help as it would ruin his plan. I reversed until I was completely concealed by the shadows. Me being the only car parked on the street would raise suspicion and that wouldn’t be very helpful, so I tried to keep out of sight. My scanner tracked back and forth, checking for any signs that Michael would be in danger. I had to be vigilant. 

On the corner of the street, I noticed a bright flash and tried to determine the origin. A few seconds later there was another flash at the same intensity as the first. After being unsuccessful at finding the source, I decided to investigate. I engaged auto-cruise and started my engine, taking care to be as quiet as possible. Cautiously I approached the corner where I saw the light, and when I had gotten there, I still couldn’t find the source of it. What was it? I asked myself. I was completely perplexed by it.

No sooner than I had thought that there was another flash. This time the light was brighter and it completely surrounded me until I couldn’t detect anything; my scanners were useless. Trying to detect anything was like using infrared to see inside a lead box. I felt helpless trapped by this thing. Multiple times I attempted to drive away, but all that did was make my wheels spin. 

Then it was gone. The light just disappeared and I was once again on a dark, quiet street. Quickly I scanned the surroundings hoping that I hadn’t missed anything while I was indisposed. I established that there was no imminent threat, and was about to scan the area again when I realised I was no longer in the same place. In fact, my systems had no record of any place with these particular landmarks. Frantically I tried to contact Michael on the comlink.  
“Michael,” I said. There was no response so I attempted to contact him again. “Michael!” I shouted, starting to get worried when once again there was no response. Then a cracking noise of static started to blast from my speakers, but other than that there was nothing. I was alone.


	3. Chapter 2

Kassidy:  
“Could you pass me the sunset red paint please?” Matt asked me. I turned to the shelf behind me and passed the appropriate paint to him. He looked up then. “Are you alright? You aren’t normally this quiet.” I shrugged indifferently. At the moment, I didn’t feel like talking to anyone. I was too busy thinking.   
Is this the rest of my life? Working in a stupid garage rather than living my dreams. I had been working here for two years now. Ever since I had failed my A-levels and my dreams shattered into a million sharp fractures. It still hurt to think about it.

“What is it?” Matt questioned persistently. Why couldn’t he just take my silence as an answer? I didn’t want to answer him. When I didn’t answer him again he turned to continue painting the car. “You know we’re about finished today, you can go home early if you’d like?” he told me, making it sound like a question.  
“I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” I said simply before walking out the door and into the street.

As I walked down the street, I identified the makes of the cars driving along the street to keep my mind occupied. Chevrolet… Ford… Toyota… Pontiac. The sleek black design meant it had to be a Firebird. Third generation by the looks of it, although it must have been modified at some point. There was something slightly different about its appearance. Before I could put my finger on it, the car had rounded the corner and was gone.

Quickly I crossed the road, and walked up the path to the block of flats where I was staying. When I got inside my flat, I entered the living room and switched on the TV and sat down on the sofa. Glancing at the screen, I realised that it was just a repeat of the BBC’s broadcast last week. I turned it off again and stalked off to my bedroom, picking up a screwdriver, and the broken radio off the windowsill on the way. Slowly I began taking it apart, forcing myself to focus on the task at hand.


	4. Chapter 3

Bonnie:  
Through the silence of the semi, the phone started to ring. As I was working on a new component for Kitt, I decided to ignore it. If whoever was phoning left a voicemail, then I would phone them back once I had finished. After a while, silence returned to the semi, but only for a moment. The silence was again broken by the sound of the phone ringing. Sighing, I stopped what I was doing and picked up the phone and received the call.  
“Bonnie!” the caller practically shouted as soon as I held the phone to my ear. It was Michael. What had he done to Kitt this time?

“What have you done to Kitt this time Michael?” I replied, my voice slightly hostile.  
“I haven’t done anything Bonnie!”  
“Well why did you phone then?” I asked.  
“I can’t find Kitt.”  
“Did you try talking to him over the comlink?”   
“There was no reply from him Bonnie.”  
“I’ll see if I can find his geographical location using his tracking device.”  
“Thank you,” he replied quietly.

I placed the phone on the table and set to work, typing commands into the computer, but instead of giving me the latitude and longitude of Kitts location, an error message displayed itself on the screen saying that the tracking device could not be detected. Hurriedly I tried again, however the result was the same. Kitt had disappeared without a trace. Silently I turned my attention back to the phone and picked it up. “I’m sorry Michael. There’s no sign of him.”  
“Are you sure?” Michael asked.  
“The computer isn’t picking up the tracking device.”  
“What does that mean?” Michael asked. I didn’t answer. The tracking device was virtually indestructible, so it was most likely that Kitt had been destroyed. How could I tell him that? How could I tell him that he might never see his partner and friend again? “Bonnie? Are you still there? Bonnie!”  
“I’m still here,” I reply slowly.  
“So what does it mean Bonnie?” I guessed there would be no avoiding this.  
“One possible scenario would be that he is somewhere where the signal would be disrupted. Perhaps underground,” I told him, hoping he wouldn’t guess how unlikely this was. Almost nothing could disrupt the signal.  
“What’s the most likely scenario?”  
“I’m sorry Michael… but it looks like he’s gone.”

My simple statement was met with silence, before the line was cut off terminating the call. “There’s still hope,” I muttered, as I once again headed to my computer. I couldn’t give up until I knew what had happened to Kitt.


	5. Chapter 4

Kitt:  
I had been driving around aimlessly for the last 10 hours, and I had yet to find an explanation for what had happened. The one thing I had managed to work out was my location. From the street signs, and the fact that the other cars were driving on the opposite side of the road, I worked out that I was in the UK. My GPS seemed to be having a difficult time deducing an exact location, as many things didn't match up with the maps I had, which was strange, as they had just recently been updated.

In the sky, the sun was just starting to dip below the horizon, covering an area of the sky with multiple hues of orange. It would be dark soon, and I needed to find somewhere to allow my systems to rest. I had been overclocking my CPU for a while now, and didn't want to cause any severe damage to it. That wouldn't help anyone.

Slowly I turned down a small road, and started to look for a car park. After driving down the road for a while, I found one. It appeared to be parking for the residents of a block of flats, and fortunately for me, there were a few empty spaces available. Gratefully I pulled into one and switched off my engine, at the same time shutting down many of my systems to allow the circuitry to cool down. With that done, I switched on my surveillance mode and waited for morning.


	6. Chapter 5

Kassidy:  
For some unknown reason, today I woke up before my alarm. Two minutes before to be exact. Reluctantly I dragged myself out of bed and made myself breakfast, and made myself a cup of coffee. I sat down at the table, and when I had finished eating, got myself ready for the day ahead. A visit to the supermarket in the morning, followed by an afternoon at the garage, before returning to my flat in the evening. What fun, I thought sarcastically.

Hastily I pulled on my shoes and coat before proceeding down the stairs and outside to the car park, making my way toward my car. Just before I got in, I noticed a car parked next to it. In fact, it was the modified Trans-Am that I saw yesterday. Curiosity overcame me, and I examined the car, pinpointing the visible modifications. “Extension to the front of the car, and a red light on the front,” I muttered quietly to myself.  
“You know your cars,” I heard someone say. I glanced around but nobody was there. Either I was going insane, or it was the car talking to me.  
“Did you just talk?” I said to the modified Trans-Am, feeling extremely silly. For a moment, there was nothing apart from the sound of leaves rustling slightly in the wind. I’m going insane, I thought, and was just going to unlock my car when the car spoke again.

“Of course I didn’t,” the car said sarcastically. “Cars don’t talk.”  
“Very funny,” I replied. A sarcastic car! Now I knew I was definitely insane.   
“Thank you.”  
“Who is this?” I asked, assuming that this was some sort of prank.  
“I am the voice of the Knight Industries Two Thousand’s micro-processing unit, K.I.T.T. for easy reference, Kitt if you prefer,” was the reply.   
“So, you’re an AI?” I asked.  
“That’s right, and if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?” Kitt, asked me  
“My name’s Kassidy,” I replied. For some reason, I liked Kitt, although the AI was far beyond anything that I had seen or heard about in the news.

“Why don’t you get in, and I’ll give you a ride to where you’re going,” Kitt kindly offered, opening the door as an invitation. Hesitantly I climbed in and closed the door behind me, before inevitably glancing at the dashboard. “Oh my god!” I exclaimed. “It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie!” The dash was covered by a multitude of brightly coloured buttons, which lit up in sequence as the car started its engine- by itself. This wasn’t that surprising, since there was an AI installed. At this point, there wasn’t that much that could surprise me about this car.

“Where would you like to go?” Kitt asked me politely.  
“I’m headed to the Tesco’s on the other side of town,” I replied.  
“I don’t know where that is. Would you like to give me directions or drive for yourself?”  
“I’ll drive… if you don’t mind,” I said, not wanting to offend Kitt. I’d previously had plenty of experience driving cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side for this to present any more of a hazard than driving normally.  
“Not at all,” Kitt informed me. A beep sounded, and the ‘Normal cruise’ button lit up. 

I reversed the car out of the parking space and drove to the supermarket. Carefully I pulled out onto the roundabout, when a speeding car drove onto the roundabout going in the wrong direction heading straight towards me. This is it, I’m going to crash I thought as I swerved to the right. All of a sudden, the steering wheel jerked out of my grasp. “Hold on,” Kitt told me as the car proceeded to jump into the air, souring over the other car and landing on the other side before coming to a stop. I was breathing heavily, my heart beating at a thousand miles an hour. “Are you alright?” Kitt asked me.  
“I’m ok,” I replied. “You saved my life!”  
“I’m programmed for the preservation of human life,” was the response.  
“Thank you, Kitt,” I told him sincerely.  
“There’s no need to thank me. I’m only a computer.”  
“That’s not true! You are much more than a computer. A computer wouldn’t be able to save someone’s life like that.”  
“Thank you, Kassidy.”

Kitt drove the rest of the way, as I was still recovering from the shock of almost crashing. When we pulled into the parking lot at Tesco’s, Kitt informed me that he would wait for me, and would drive me back to my flat later. I thanked him again before walking off into the supermarket.


	7. Chapter 6

Bonnie:  
I had been working on trying to find Kitt for at least a whole day now, and if caffeine didn’t exist then I would be asleep right now. Sleeping wasn’t a priority. Finding Kitt was the most important to me. I didn’t know what would happen if I didn’t find him. He was more than just a computer to me. He was a friend, and the loss of Kitt would destroy those of us closest to him.

Michael was here a few hours ago. He didn’t say anything, instead choosing to stare at the empty space in the middle of the garage. As though wishing alone could bring Kitt back.   
I then ran the latest set of code I had been working on. “No location available,” displayed itself on the screen. In frustration, I slam my fist into the wall. Kitt’s gone. He’s really gone.

“Bonnie?” I heard Devon say before I sank to the floor, tears running down my face. I’ll never see Kitt again. This was the end of the line.  
“No luck yet?” Devon said. I didn’t answer. I think he must have seen me crying, because he said, “Don’t worry. We will find Kitt. Why don’t you get some rest, and have another look at the problem tomorrow?” He hesitated a moment before saying, “Kitt would want you to deprive yourself of sleep because of him.”  
“You’re right,” I told him after a moment. Slowly I stood up and left the garage, heading home for some rest. I would continue later… I wasn’t about to give up!


	8. Chapter 7

Kitt:  
I waited patiently in the car park for Kassidy to return. A short while later she did, a bag of shopping in each hand, and a slight smile on her face. I couldn’t work out why that would be. Less than half an hour ago she could have been seriously injured in a crash! Sometimes people are hard to understand.

“Hello Kitt,” she said in greeting.  
“Hello,” I replied politely.  
“Do you mind if I put my shopping in your boot, sorry… trunk. You’re an American AI, aren’t you?” Kassidy asked.  
“You’re right about that, and of course you can,” I replied, opening the trunk for her.  
“Thank you,” she told me before placing her shopping bags in the trunk. As soon as she had done that, I closed it, and opened the door for her. She climbed in, so I started the engine and drove down the road.

“So, are there other cars like you?” Kassidy asked curiously. I paused for a moment before deciding to answer her question truthfully. “Kitt? Are you ok?”  
“It’s nothing to worry about?” I tried, not wanting to concern her with my malfunctioning circuits.  
“No. It is something to worry about. The lights in the middle of the dashboard were flashing, as they do when you speak, but I couldn’t hear anything.”  
“It’s just a minor malfunction,” I told her. “And the lights you were referring to are called the voice modulator.”

She was silent for a moment, as though taking in the information. An emotion that I couldn’t identify flashed across her face for a second before she spoke.  
“Would you like me to have a look at it? I have some experience with circuitry and computers.”  
“Thank you… but I couldn’t possibly accept,” I said.  
“I insist. Call it a thank you for saving my life!”  
“OK,” I replied reluctantly, turning onto the main road to Kassidy’s flat.

“Well now that’s settled, I have a slightly different destination for you.” She paused for a moment, glancing out of the window to check our present location. “Turn right at the next road,” she told me and I did so. “Would you mind stopping just here on the left while I go and open the door?” I pulled over, and she climbed out, pulling a set of keys out from her pocket. She opened the doors to a building just down the street from where I was parked before running over. “Come in,” she said to me, so I drove up the short driveway and into the garage that she opened the doors to.

“Thought it would be a nice idea for you to stay here, as this is the place where I go to work on projects usually. Not that I view you as a project!” She added the last sentence hurriedly, obviously not wanting to offend me. “It’s very nice of you to do this,” I told her, while my scanner was taking in the room. On one side there was a work bench, and on top of it were pieces of circuitry. They didn’t look like they had ever been finished, and a small layer of dust was over them as though they hadn’t been touched in a while. I made a note to ask about it at some point.

“It’s no trouble,” she replied, heading towards my trunk. Guessing what she was going to do, I opened it. She eyes widened for a second in surprise, before she collected her shopping. “I’m going to take these back to my flat before I have to go to work. Will you be alright here on your own?” she asked.  
“Of course.”  
“Bye Kitt.”  
“Bye Kassidy,” I said as she walked outside, locked the doors and began the walk home.


	9. Chapter 8

Kassidy:  
I headed home as quickly as I could, and as soon as I arrived home I put my shopping away. Once that was done, I headed into my bedroom switching on my laptop. I had multiple questions about Kitt, and I was hoping a quick internet search would give me some answers.

“What did he say Kitt stood for?” I muttered to myself before I remembered the answer and typed ‘Knight Industries Two Thousand’ into the google search engine. The first link was to a Wikipedia page, and I clicked on it. The first sentence of the article stated that K.I.T.T was a fictional character from the series ‘Knight Rider’. That couldn’t be right. 

I went back to the google search page and clicked on the next link and it said the same thing. Then I googled the one news story that would never be forgotten. I clicked on the BBC article, and phrases jumped out at me; ‘works of fiction are true’, ‘taken place in another universe’, ‘universal shift technology.’   
My head started to spin and I closed the web browser. I took a moment to take the new information in. Now I had more questions than ever. The most important on being how Kitt even ended up in this universe. As far as I knew, the technology to travel between universes only existed in this one. I made a note to ask Kitt about it later. 

Glancing at the clock, I realised I was late for work. Hurriedly I shut down my computer and grabbed my uniform out of my wardrobe, pulled it on, and grabbed my keys as I headed out of the door and began to run down the road.

When I arrived, Matt was waiting for me. “You’re late,” he told me, stating the obvious.   
“I’m sorry! I guess I… lost track of time,” I replied, giving the excuse that I used to give when I had a project I was working on.  
“Have you begun working on a project again?” he asked me.  
“I guess I have,” I said, a smile planting itself on my face. There was silence for a second, as Matt started picking up tools that were lying around. “There was a car brought in half an hour ago, do you mind having a look at it?” he asked, completely changing the subject.  
“Sure,” I replied.

I headed over to the parked car on the other side of the garage. The car was a dark blue Ford Focus. “What did the owner say was wrong with it?” I asked Matt.   
“They said the wheel alignment was a bit out,” was the reply. “Here, catch.” The keys to the car were thrown to me. “Take it around the block and see what you think.”  
“Ok.” I unlocked the car and got in. Before I started the engine, I got out again and looked at the wear on the tread of the tyres. The front left one was quite worn on the outside, and the right one was worn on the inside.

Rolling my eyes, I locked the car again before handing the keys back to Matt. “The wheel alignment is out,” I told him before heading back over to sort it out. Once that was done, I tidied up the garage until it was time for me to go home.

Instead of heading to the flat, I headed to the garage, where I had left Kitt. I had a few questions for him.


	10. Chapter 9

Kitt:  
Kassidy arrived at approximately five o clock, and had a confused expression on her face. She seemed as though she had a lot of questions. “Hello Kitt,” she said to me.  
“Hello Kassidy,” I replied politely, at the same time preparing myself for the onslaught of questions that were sure to follow Kassidy’s greeting.  
“Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” Kassidy asked.  
“What would you like to ask?” I questioned. Kassidy paused for a moment, almost as though she was thinking of the best way to phrase her question. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She tapped the screen a few times before finally asking her first question.  
“What company constructed you?”  
“Knight Industries,” I replied.   
“Do you have a driver, or…?”   
“Yes. I do have a driver.”  
The line of questioning continued for some time, and just as I thought she was running out of questions she asked me something that I couldn’t have possibly thought she would ask. “How did you end up in the car park for the block of flats?” I was silent for a while, unsure of what to say. The first time I tried to reply, the voice modulator malfunctioned again, so I repeated what I was saying.  
“I haven’t yet worked that out.”  
“Can you describe what happened before you ended up here?”  
“I have a video file of what happened, if you’d like to see it,” I told her, opening the driver’s side door as an invitation.   
She got in, and I played the video. Kassidy watched it in silence, the entirety of her focus on what was on the screen. When it had finished, Kassidy asked me yet another question. “What happened after the light surrounded you?”  
“It disappeared not long after, and I found I was in England. However, it didn’t match the maps that I have stored in memory.”  
“I see,” Kassidy muttered, deep in thought.  
She started to pace up and down the garage. After a while she pulled out her phone again, coming to a stop right in front of me. “I’m going to find out what’s going on Kitt. That’s a promise!” she announced, before typing a number into her mobile phone and dialling. “Hello,” Kassidy addressed the person on the other end of the phone line. I could have traced it, but I wanted Kassidy to explain for herself, rather than invading her privacy when she has kindly decided to help me. I directed my attention back to what she was saying.  
“It’s Kassidy Marsh. I would like to speak to the person in charge of the universal shift technology.”  
There was a pause before the phone conversation continued. “Hello Dr Smith. Long-time, no see… yes that’s right… next Saturday? That would be perfect. Thank you… See you then.”  
She ended the call then. “I’ll explain later,” she said to me. “But now I’m going to see what I can do about the repairs you need.” I opened the hood, and she started to attempt to identify the what each circuit did, and to work out what needed repairing. She spent just over a minute looking before looking up again. “You said it was a minor malfunction,” she chastised. “You shouldn’t play down the damage. You are important, so don’t tell me you’re just a computer, because you aren’t. You have a mind of your own and…”

“I didn’t want to worry you Kassidy. After all you could have been in a car crash not long before that,” I explained.  
“It’s ok Kitt.” She looked down again before speaking again. “Could you explain some of this to me? I can’t work out this bit. It looks like a receiver for a communication device… but that can’t be right.”  
“That’s the link to my driver’s comlink,” I replied.  
“Can you still connect to the comlink?”  
“I haven’t been able to since I ended up here,” I stated.  
“Alright. I’ll be back in a minute, I’m just going to get some tools,” she told me, a trace of a smile on her face.


	11. Chapter 10

Kassidy:  
After four days, with a little help from Kitt, all of the repairs were completed, and Kitt was functioning perfectly. We talked quite a bit during those four days, and I got to know him quite well. Whenever the topic of conversation neared anything to do with his driver or the comlink, Kitt promptly changed the subject. I knew he had to be missing his driver, but would never admit it.  
It was in that moment that I began a new project. I spent hours putting pieces of circuitry together, dismantling it, and reassembling it until I achieved what I was aiming for. The only thing I needed now was a frequency. Kitt had told the frequency two day ago. Suddenly remembering it, I programmed it into the device and fastened it onto my wrist.  
“Kitt?” I asked.  
“Yes Kassidy,” he replied.  
“I know you’ve been missing your driver, even though you wouldn’t admit it.” I began. Kitt’s scanner light tracked across slowly, and he said nothing, so I continued. “I know this won’t stop you missing them, but I thought this might help. I’ve created a ‘comlink’, so that if you want to talk to me when I’m not here you can. I know being alone can sometimes make these things worse.”  
“Thank you Kassidy,” Kitt replied.   
“You’re welcome,” I replied, my voice cracking slightly with emotion, but before Kitt could comment on it, I glanced at the clock and realised that I had only three minutes to get to work. I couldn’t be late again. “I’ve got to go Kitt, or I’ll be late for work. See you later,” I told him rushing out of the door, closing it behind me.  
“Bye,” Kitt responded, his voice coming out of the comlink on my wrist. I smiled at that as I sprinted down the road.


	12. Chapter 11

Kassidy:  
Kitt dropped me off around the corner from the building where I was going to meet Dr Smith. I’d asked Kitt to make sure that he wasn’t seen near the building. I don’t know why, but I was slightly suspicious of my invitation here, and I didn’t want Kitt to face the consequences if things went wrong.  
I entered the front door and headed to the front desk. “Hello. Can I help you?” the receptionist asked.  
“I have a meeting with Dr Smith.”  
“You’re Kassidy Marsh!” the receptionist exclaimed. “I’m a huge fan.” She stood up and shook my hand enthusiastically.   
“It’s nice to meet you,” I replied, unhappy that this person had recognised me.  
“I’ll just phone him now to tell him you’ve arrived,” they told me, picking up the phone on the left side of the desk and dialling. “Could you sign in please?” she asked, motioning to a large book on the front of the desk.  
I filled in my name and time of arrival in the required boxes on the sign in book. At this point I was seriously considering leaving. I really didn’t want to see Dr Smith right now. In fact, I didn’t want to see him at all. 

A moment later, I was greeted a familiar face. “Hello Kassidy,” he said simply.  
“Hello,” I responded.  
“I was surprised that you didn’t contact me sooner,” he commented, heading towards the door on the right. I followed. “With your interest in technology,” he continued.  
“I had other things to do that required my immediate attention,” I told him, ensuring that I remained formal.  
“What things?” he asked. “I haven’t seen anything in the news about you in the last two years.” I didn’t reply, not wanting the conversation to head in this direction. He seemed to pick up on my reluctance to talk about the subject, and so abruptly changed it.  
“I assume you’ve read the news articles,” he said, not even bothering to look in my direction.   
“Of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Although I did notice a lack of explanation for how it worked,” I told him.  
“There’s a reason for that. The technology was, until recently, top secret, and we felt it would be better to not reveal the exact details of the inner workings of the technology, or it might be used against us.”  
“That seems reasonable,” I replied.  
We walked into a large lab. I heard a loud bang as the door closed behind us. On a table in the centre sat four identical devices that looked as though they were taken straight out of a science fiction movie. Each device was a mess of wires and circuitry. I pick one up, and try to determine exactly how it works. It was one of the most complicated pieces of circuitry that I had seen, except for Kitt.

“Do you like it?” Dr Smith asked, interrupting my study of the device.  
“It’s incredible,” I reply, in all honesty. “Although I do have a few questions.”  
“Ask away,” he replied.   
“Well…how do you end up with continuity errors if everything filmed is the events in another universe?”  
“What’s you actually see on screen isn’t direct footage of what film crews see in the other universe. They make notes about what they see happen, and then we film it in this universe using actors.”  
“How do authors know what is going on in these other universes, in the event that a book is converted into a movie?”  
“We actually aren’t entirely sure. There are plenty of theories, but nobody actually knows.”  
“Where are the other universes in relation to this one?”  
“We’re not entirely sure of that either. The inventor of the universal shift technology knew, but never revealed this information to anyone. He took the secret to the grave.”  
“I see,” I replied absentmindedly.  
“If I wanted to travel to one of these other universes, how exactly would I do it?”  
“Well, we have an index of the coordinates for each universe, and you would input it using the keypad here.”  
“Has one of these devices ever malfunctioned?”  
“Yes. The most recent malfunction was six days ago. One of the members of the crew wanted to visit a universe that we had decided was no longer relevant to modern television. We granted the request for his visit, however when the device was activated, nothing happened. We knew the device was doing something, but the crew member wasn’t transported anywhere. Perhaps the coordinates entered were wrong.” I placed the device on the table where I had found it.  
“Thank you for your time,” I told him politely.  
He led me back to the reception area and said goodbye. I signed out, and headed around the corner to where Kitt had parked, but he wasn’t there. “Kitt,” I said into the comlink.

“I’m currently parked just around the corner on the right. Where I dropped you off, there are double yellow lines, and I would have been violating road laws if I remained there,” Kitt told me, obviously knowing what I was going to ask.  
I walked around the corner, and found Kitt parked exactly where he had said. The door opened as I approached, and I got in. “How did it go?” he asked.  
“It went well. Was everything okay for you?”  
“It was fine,” Kitt replied as he started his engine, the lights on the dashboard lighting up in their usual sequence, before heading back to garage.


	13. Chapter 12

Kitt:  
It was at times like this that I was thankful of my MBS. Ever since getting back from her meeting, she had been working nonstop. Three minor explosions had taken place as a result of her creations, and it seemed to be that she was getting nowhere.

“There’s something I’m missing,” Kassidy muttered to herself. She looked like she was slowly falling apart. Her hair was falling out of the ponytail she had hastily put it in, and she had begun pacing up and down the length of the garage.  
“Perhaps if you explained what you are trying to do, I might be able to help,” I told her, hoping that I would be able to stop her stressing out about whatever it was she was working on. She ignored me and continued pacing.  
After a few minutes of this, she stopped. “That’s it!” she exclaimed, picking up yet another tool and setting to work once again. A few minutes later a slightly bigger explosion took place, starting a small fire. Kassidy grabbed a fire extinguisher and hurriedly put it out, before kicking her device in frustration. “That’s not going to help Kassidy,” I said.  
“I know,” she replied sounding defeated.

She sat down on the floor. “What am I going to do Kitt?” she asked, making direct eye-contact with my scanner.  
“Don’t give up hope Kassidy. Hope is one thing we all need to have.”  
“You’re right. In fact… I’ve been going about this whole thing wrong. Kitt, do you have the ability to connect to WiFi?” she asked suddenly.  
“Of course,” I replied.   
“Well then I know what to do.”  
She quickly set to work on another device, although this seemed different to what she was working on before. Within half an hour she had it completed. She plugged it into the wall and turned on the router. “When that’s booted you should be able to connect to that device. Using it you should be able to boost the signal that links to your driver’s comlink. Hopefully it will enable you to communicate,” she said, a smile visible on her face.  
“Thank you,” I replied.

The second that the router had started up, I connected to the device. There was now a sound of static coming from my speakers. It was working! “Michael?” I said.  
“Kitt!” Michael replied. “Where are you? What happened?”  
“Um…I,” my usual articulate responses failing me now.  
“ Kitt? Are…” and then the connection cut out.   
One of the wires on the device had completely melted, and another was glowing from heat.   
“I guess on of the wires I used had a bit too much resistance.”  
“No,” I replied. “The resistance of the wires was fine. But it isn’t just for boosting the signal. I scanned it, and it does far more than that,” I said. I switched my scanner light off, not wanting Kassidy to have any insight into what I was thinking.

“You’re right Kitt,” she told me. “If you go onto any news website, you should be able to find the information you need. I did so, finding the headline news article to be on something called Universal Shift technology. I read the article, and it gave me the information to fully understand the function of the device. But I didn’t stop there. I then used a search engine to research Kassidy Marsh. I thought that it would be a good idea to complete a background check. Within seconds I had plenty of information about her, although after looking it up, I immediately wished I hadn’t. I shouldn’t have violated her privacy like that. If she wanted me to know, she would have told me that in her own time.

“I suppose you know about my past then,” she said dejectedly. I had no idea how she came to this conclusion, and I didn’t respond. I had no idea of what to say that would rectify the situation. My silence must have confirmed her suspicions, as she then walked out, only this time she didn’t say goodbye.


	14. Chapter 13

Kassidy:  
I ran towards my flat, as though I could run away from what had just happened. Even though I knew that I couldn’t. Running never solved anything. Gradually I slowed to a fast walking pace and began to climb the stairs to the top floor, where my flat was situated.

I pulled the key out of my pocket as I approached the front door, only to find it slightly open already, which was strange. I had closed it when I left earlier, I was completely certain of that. Tentatively I shoved it open and entered the flat. 

The place looked as though an explosion had taken place there. Everything that was on a shelf was on the floor. Pieces of fragile items littered the floor, and some of the furniture had been knocked over. In my bedroom, the contents of drawers had been thrown across the floor. Nothing had been left untouched. It looked as though someone was searching for something. I didn’t have anything of importance to anyone. I hadn’t even done anything that would have caused anyone to want to do this.  
A moment later, it hit me. The people who did this weren’t after me. They were after Kitt. There was something about my meeting with Dr Smith that didn’t add up. Why would they have let me see super advanced technology that they didn’t want anyone to know anything specific about? Unless it was a set up. Somehow, they must have known about Kitt, and had used the meeting as a distraction to search my flat for any clue if I had found him. They probably didn’t show me the actual devices either. How could I have been so stupid?

It was only a matter of time before they found out about my garage. I turned around and began running in the direction I had just come from. At that moment, I didn’t know much for certain, but there were two things I did know. Number one, I would get to the bottom of this, and number two, I couldn’t let them, whoever they were, get their hands on Kitt.


	15. Chapter 14

Kitt:  
I had shut down most of my systems after Kassidy had left, not expecting to see her any time soon. In fact, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she didn’t want to speak to me again after what had happened. However, it shocked me when the door flew open ten minutes later and a worried Kassidy almost tumbled into the garage.

“Kassidy?” I said, a note of concern in my voice. She didn’t answer, instead picking up tools from the work bench and tidying then away quickly. Any diagrams she had drawn in the last few days were thrown into a bag almost carelessly as she rushed around. “What’s wrong Kassidy? My sensors detect that your stress levels are elevated. Is this about earlier?” I said, voicing my concerns. She froze, dropping the tool in her hand back onto the table, turning to face me. “This has nothing to do with earlier Kitt. This is something else, and we need to leave as soon as possible,” she told me, trying to sound calm.

“What’s wrong?” I asked again in the hope she would explain.  
“My flat was searched while I wasn’t there, and I have reason to believe that someone is after you,” she said. “I’ll explain properly once we’ve left.”  
She cleared away the rest of her stuff in silence. When she had finished, I opened the trunk. “You can put some of that in there. That way if they find this place, they won’t find anything important.”

“Thank you Kitt,” she replied, picking up the bag of diagrams and some tools.  
Once she had done that, she opened the garage door and I drove out. As soon as she had closed it, I opened the driver’s side door and she climbed in. “Where would you like to go?” I asked.   
“Head down the M4 towards London,” she stated simply. Then she picked up her phone and dialled a number.  
“Matt! I’m really sorry but I won’t be coming into work for a while. I can’t give you a specific reason why, but I will explain as soon as I can…Bye.” She ended the call before switching her phone off. She asked me to stop the car, before tossing the phone in the nearest bin. Obviously, she knew they could be traced, and didn’t want to take any chances.

It wasn’t long before we were on our way again. Then she explained the situation to me. She didn’t have any concrete evidence, but she knew that a lot of things didn’t add up. There was silence for a while, as we both considered the facts.  
A short time later, I brought up a new subject of discussion. “About what happened earlier…” I began. “I was wondering if you would mind explaining in your own words what happened. For things like this, I have found that the internet isn’t always the most accurate resource.”  
“Of course. I was planning to tell you soon anyway,” she replied.

“It started two months after I perfected the automatic collision avoidance system. It had been fully integrated into car manufacturing about a month before that.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “I began modifying the code in the system, hoping to improve the AI and allow it to do other things, like drive the car all the time. I hadn’t finished it, and I warned my mum to disable it before she left later that day for a shopping trip, but she must have forgotten. Both she and my younger brother paid the price for my meddling that day.”  
Kassidy paused, tears running down her cheeks before pulling herself together and continuing. “I could barely sleep for the next month knowing that it was my fault. I stopped concentrating on my studies and failed my A-levels later that year. I gave up on my dreams then as a result and stopped working on all the projects that I was working on at the time. I decided not to do anything to do with AI again… that is, until you came along.” She smiled slightly. “You’re the reason that I ever went back to that garage,” Kassidy said. 

I drove off the motorway at the next services, and parked in a space away from other cars. “I’m sorry Kassidy,” I said. “But you should know that it wasn’t your fault. There was nothing else you could have done,” I told her. We stayed there in silence for some time, the two of us just taking in what we had learned.


	16. Chapter 15

Kassidy:  
We arrived in London just as the sun disappeared below the horizon. Despite the late time, the streets were still lined with queues of brake lights stretching on for miles. This, I supposed was to be expected, considering the traffic in London was generally something to avoid at all costs; a nightmare for any driver.  
At the earliest opportunity, I turned onto a quieter road. It was a shortcut that I remembered from years ago. Second exit at the roundabout, turn left at the third left turn, take the first right, and keep driving to the end of the road. On the left, there was a small carpark, where there was conveniently one space left. I parked Kitt in it, and got out, closing the door behind me. Just as I turned to leave, I noticed the dented state of the cars parked around. I had forgotten the lack of respect people had for cars in this area. “Contact me if you have any trouble,” I told Kitt. “This isn’t exactly the best neighbourhood.”  
“I hadn’t noticed,” Kitt replied sarcastically, before providing a serious answer. “I should be fine,” he said. Happy that everything would be alright while I was gone, I set off towards a block of flats across the road. 

After a moment of hesitation, I pressed the buzzer for flat 32a and waited for a response. “Hello,” a voice said.   
“It’s been a while,” I replied in greeting. There was quiet for a few seconds as the other person finally realised that it was me.  
“Kassidy?” they questioned.  
“That’s my name. Can I come up?” I asked.  
“Of course. Sorry,” they replied. A beep sounded, letting me know the door was now unlocked. I entered the block and headed to the flat.  
I didn’t even have to knock before I was greeted by the face of one of my closest friends from sixth form. “Hey Jess.”  
“It’s nice to see you again. Come in,” she said, and I followed her into her kitchen. “Would you like a coffee?” Jess asked me politely.  
“No, thank you,” I responded absentmindedly.  
“This isn’t a social call, is it?” she asked, although it sounded as though she already knew it wasn’t. “What’s wrong?” She knew me so well that I didn’t even have to respond.  
“It’s complicated,” I responded.

Half an hour of explaining later, and Jess was up to speed with the situation, except for the specific details of the character who had ended up this world. I didn’t think that it was particularly important, and it would be easier if Jess wasn’t dragged into all this. “I’ll see what information I can find for you,” she told me before disappearing into what was presumably her bedroom. Jess returned a few minutes later, a puzzled expression on her face. “The only thing I could find was this,” she said, placing her laptop on the countertop next to the door. I glanced at the screen. On it, was a database listing fictional works and a string of numbers corresponding to each one. “Universe coordinates?” I questioned aloud.  
“That would make sense,” Jess replied before starting to laugh. “This is crazy.”  
“The world is certainly a crazy place,” I replied. I searched the database for ‘Knight Rider’, and made a note of the number next to it. I knew that it would come in handy.

Jess looked at the screen for a moment before going back into her bedroom. She came back a short while later with a complete box set of the series. “When were you going to tell me the character was from Knight Rider, and which character is it?” she asked.  
“It’s Kitt,” I told her.  
“You’ve met Kitt!” she exclaimed. “Can I meet him?” she asked more quietly, a childlike grin on her face.  
“Sure,” I said. “But after I need to leave as soon as possible.”  
“In that case I’m coming with you,” she told me, and before I had time to argue, she had left the room, and returned with a rucksack. “Don’t think you can stop me. I’m not letting you do this alone.”  
“Ok,” I said.  
“No really, I’m coming whether you want me to or… wait what?”  
“Ok,” I repeated. “Now let’s go,” I stated, as I headed out the door.


	17. Chapter 16

Kitt:  
After half an hour of being parked in a car park full of cars that looked as though they belonged in a scrapyard, Kassidy returned, bringing with her someone else. “Hello, Kitt,” new person said. “I’m a huge fan!” she exclaimed, but before I could reply, Kassidy spoke.  
“Jess! Can you stop fangirling for a minute, and introduce yourself?”  
“Sorry… I’m Jess,” Jess told me.  
“It’s nice to meet you, Jess,” I replied.

“We should probably get going,” Kassidy said, bringing the conversation to an end. I opened my doors and the two of them climbed in. “Where are we going?” I asked.  
“North?” Jess said, almost questioningly. I reversed out of the parking space and pulled out of the car park, and a short while later, we were on the motorway.

“Kitt, do you mind if I ask a question?” Jess asked, sounding hesitant and hopeful at the same time.  
“What would you like to ask?” I replied.  
“How did Karr survive falling off the cliff?”  
“Karr? As far as I’m aware, he was destroyed then...”  
“OK, that was a silly question. I was thinking of a different TV show, and got confused.” I could tell she was lying, and didn’t comment on it. Kassidy raised an eyebrow at Jess’s comment, a quiet settled again.  
“Kitt, could you stop at the next services, please?” Kassidy asked politely.  
“Of course,” I replied. Ten minutes later, we were parked in a quiet car park.  
“Let us know if anything happens,” Kassidy told me as they got out an headed towards the building.


	18. Chapter 17

Kassidy:

As soon as we had reached a distance far away enough from Kitt that he wouldn’t overhear our conversation, I spoke to Jess, making it clear just how unbelievable I thought her lie was. “What was that? Don’t just tell me you mixed up your TV shows, like you said earlier.”  
“You’re right… I was lying,” Jess told me, making direct eye contact, not. Her face was an image of utmost seriousness, which only made multiple question begin to formulate in my mind.

“Then why…?” I began to ask, but before I could finish Jess interrupted.  
“Because something is wrong. In the TV series, Karr returns for a second time, after the fall off the cliff, but Kitt had no knowledge of that. He still believes that they destroyed Karr the first time…” she trailed off.  
“But TV shows follow these other universes events to the letter, and the Universal Shift Technology only allows travel between different universes,” I replied, confusion evident in my voice.

There was a brief lapse in conversation as we entered the building of the service station, which ended as soon as the glass door swung closed behind us. “That doesn’t make sense… there’s something we’re missing,” Jess told me.  
“I agree, and I think we need to find out exactly what that is,” I said.  
The conversation was interrupted by a loud beep sounding from the previously unused comlink that was still on my wrist, in place of my normal watch. “Is there something wrong Kitt?” I asked.

“There are two cars outside, and both are rather suspicious,” Kitt replied, his voice sounding through the comlink.   
“What do you mean?”  
“Well, they seem to have rather a lot of equipment in them for a start, and that equipment is currently scanning some of my normal frequencies.”  
“Ok, we’ll meet you outside as quick as we can.”  
I abruptly turned around, much to Jess’ surprise, and headed back in the direction we had just come from. After a second’s hesitation, Jess followed. “You made a comlink?” Jess asked, as we quickly approached the door to the car park. “That’s so cool!” she told me. I flung the door open, and blasted straight through it, and into the car park. “Can we discuss this later?” I asked. “We have more pressing problems right now.”  
“You’re right, but don’t think this conversation is…” The last word of her sentence was drowned out by the violent bang of a gun firing. The sound echoed menacingly across the car park like the first rumble of thunder in a storm.


	19. Chapter 18

Kitt:

The bullet missed embedding itself in Kassidy's shoulder by mere inches. "Kassidy," I said. "Stay where you are. I'll come and get you."  
"We'll meet in the middle," Kassidy replied as another gunshot rung out, giving another indication to the current danger that Kassidy and Jess were in. I rapidly weaved in and out of haphazardly parked cars blocking the way. I didn't dare use ski mode or turbo boost, as these people were after us. I wanted to ensure that we remained as anonymous as possible. There was no point in drawing any unnecessary attention to ourselves.

The third bullet directed at Kassidy bounced harmlessly off my MBS. I threw my doors open, and the two climbed in. "We need to get out of here," Jessica said, stating the obvious. I would have responded sarcastically but I thought it best not to given the circumstances. "Agreed," I replied, quickly accelerating towards the motorway. Before long, the shooter's cars caught up to us. A bright green Ford Focus, and a white C-class Mercedes. Another bullet bounced off my MBS, as I sped up again, now switching lanes continually, having to avoid the cars who were actually following the speed limit.

"How are we going to lose them?" Jess asked.  
"Do either of you have a plan?" I asked.  
"Yes," Kassidy said, just as we passed the next exit. "Could you use your turbo boost to get over the central barricade, so we can turn around?"  
"Of course."

Immediately, I leapt over the barricade, before landing and turning around. "Don't go off at the next exit," Jess told me. "Go off at the one after. It's easier to get to where we're going from there."  
"We'll want to avoid populated areas as well. After that, we'll need to lie low for a while," Kassidy added.  
"I agree," I replied.

As we drove, and Jess gave directions, it quickly approached nightfall. The sun cast its last fires across the sky for the day. The bright reds and oranges of the sunset quickly gave way to an impenetrable inky darkness. "We should be there in a minute," Jess told me. "Turn left here." I followed her directions, before coming to a stop.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked, confused by the fact that there appeared to be nothing there. Jess searched through her pockets for a moment, before pulling out a remote control. She pressed a button, and the ground on the left began opening. "We're definitely in the right place," Jess replied, as I drove through the door.

Slowly, I made my way through the dark and narrow tunnel, until after about half a mile, it opened up into a brightly lit, underground room. The walls were pure white, like snow. Workbenches lined the walls, each of them littered with various pieces of technology. An automatic glass door was located in the centre of each wall. "Welcome to my secret hideout," Jess said, a wide grin plastered on her face.  
"When did you get around to all this?" Kassidy asked, the shock evident in her expression.  
"I had loads of time once I'd left sixth form," was Jess' simple reply.

The two quickly climbed out. Kassidy, after closing the door, began turning in a small circle, admiring the underground room. "The technology…" Kassidy started, before trailing off. "How?"  
"You've missed a lot."  
"It certainly looks that way."  
"How about I give you a tour of the rest of the complex? After that, I'll explain everything," Jess suggested calmly. "We'll be back later," Jess told me. Then the two of them left through the glass door located in the middle of the left wall.


	20. Chapter 19

Kassidy:

Jess gave me a very detailed tour of the underground complex. I was led through various corridors, which were full of twists and turns, and up a multitude of staircases. The entire thing was like an extremely complicated labyrinth. It was somewhere where anyone who didn't know it well would end up lost for days.

"You'll like what I'm about to show you…" Jess said, and when I asked what it was, she refused to elaborate. Instead, she led me to the end of yet another identical corridor and threw open the door. I hesitated for a moment, uncertain. "Well? Are you going to stand there all day? Come on," Jess told me. Slowly I stepped across the threshold, and into, by far, the most interesting room in the entire complex.

Quite simply, it was a workshop. However, unlike mine it was kept tidy. Various pieces of circuitry were placed methodically on one workbench on the far corner, each one neatly labelled. Along the right wall were various computers, and to the left was an area where the tools were stored. What confused me though, was the large amount of space in the middle. "It's amazing!" I said, breaking the silence that had settled as I observed the room.  
"I knew you'd approve," she replied. I walked over to the circuitry, identifying the groups they were sorted into and made a guess at what they were for. "You were trying to make a Universal shift device?" I asked.  
"Yes, but it was unsuccessful. You had more luck."  
"I did," I replied simply. After a second, I realised that she should have had no way of knowing that. "I never told you anything about that," I told her. "How did you know?" I asked.

Instead of answering, she walked out of a door right next to where we were. Unwilling to end up lost, I followed. After a moment, she paused, and tapped a touchscreen panel on the wall. Doors that were previously invisible quickly opened revealing a lift. The two of us entered, and Jess tapped another touchscreen on the inside of the lift. "Doors closing," a mechanical voice intoned, before the doors slammed shut and we rapidly plummeted downwards. Within a few seconds, the lift came to a stop and the doors opened.

I stepped out, and into a room which I immediately recognised. It was the first room that I saw in this complex, and just the same as earlier, Kitt was parked in the centre. The familiar red scanner light switched on and began its usual path back and forth.  
"Are you going to provide an explanation?" Kitt questioned. "My scans detected an extreme number of technological devices located in this building."  
"You didn't connect to the network?"  
"I concluded that what is going on here is potentially highly classified. I'm not authorised access to the information," Kitt explained.

Jess drew herself up to her full height, her posture immediately changing to one of a person used to authority. "I'm giving you unlimited access to any files on the network. The same applies to you Kassidy," Jess informed us.  
"Thank you," Kitt replied immediately.

After a short pause, Kitt opened a door and said, "The files are most informative, but you still have some explaining to do. Jess quickly sat down in the passenger seat, and I sat down next to her in the driver's seat. "What's going on Jess?" I finally asked.  
"Well… the short answer is I got recruited to develop new security features for networks," Jess began.  
"And the long answer?"

Jess took in a deep breath. "I tried breaking into one of the most secure systems, into the BBC technology development network, just under two years ago, only my attempts were detected. A couple of days later, some people turned up at my flat and offered me a job. They needed someone to oversee this project, and I was their number one candidate." I took a moment to take in what she had just said.  
"You said you were overseeing the project, but during the tour, I didn't see anyone else…"  
"I told them you were coming. They view you as a bit of a role model. I mean, you did revolutionise self-driving car technology," she said. "I won't tell you what they're doing. It can be a surprise." The absolute look of horror that must have been on my face caused Jess to laugh. "You'll be fine… I promise." She smiled sympathetically.

"I'll show you where your room is," she said. I climbed out and followed her back to where the lift was. Just as before, the doors opened, and closed after Jess pressed the touchscreen. The doors slammed closed, and the lift once again shot downwards.

Once the doors opened, Jess led me down a corridor similar to that of a hotel. It seemed out of place compared to the rest of the complex. She stopped in front of a door near the end and turned to face me. She held out a key and said "This is your room. You'll find everything you need in there, and I'll come and get you in a couple of hours to meet everyone." She then turned and quickly left the way she'd come. I put the key in the lock before entering the room and switching on the lights.

The room was extremely well furnished. On the far wall, a large double bed stood proudly, covered with an elegant duvet, and a multitude of pillows, which made it look as though a light snowfall had occurred. Just to the left of that was a desk with a laptop placed on top. As I walked over, I noticed a bright yellow post-it note, which had the password written on it in bold black letters. I pulled out the chair from beneath the desk and sat down. Then I switched on the laptop. I had some reading to do.


	21. Chapter 20

Kassidy:

I spent a couple of hours reading through files, most of which were written accounts of various research that was taking place in the complex. The complexity of the projects was amazing, and to some extent, unbelievable. My browsing was unfortunately interrupted by a message popping up on the screen. "Press the button on the right wall – Jess :)," the message read. Guessing that it couldn't be anything bad, I walked over to the wall, quickly finding the button and pressing it. A hidden door opened into a small corridor. Hesitantly, I stepped into the corridor.

At each end, there was a simple wooden door, with a sign attached to each. One read 'Wardrobe', and the other simply said 'Surprise'. Immediately deciding, I headed towards the more ambiguous of the two doors, and turned the door handle, only to find that it was locked. Remembering that Kitt has the ability to open locks, I contacted him on the comlink. "Kitt? Could open this lock please?" I asked politely.  
"I could…" Kitt replied.  
"Ok, will you open the lock?" I tried again.  
"Go to the other room first," Kitt replied slowly. "I think the door might unlock on its own."  
"What do you mean?" I questioned.  
"You'll see…" Kitt told me vaguely.

Accepting that there was no point in trying to get in the room, I headed back through the corridor, and entered the room labelled wardrobe. A rail looped around the room and was lined with various outfits, and in the centre, was a singular armchair. Placed on it, was a short note that said, "Feel free to pick something. The other door will be open in half an hour."

I spent a few minutes searching for something that wasn't frilly or pink, and eventually found a light blue T-shirt, a pair of leggings and a denim jacket. I quickly put those on and headed back into the bedroom to continue reading through the files. I had just started to read the fifth file on the Universal Shift Technology, when I received another notification on the laptop screen. "The door is now open…" Taking that as an invitation, I immediately headed to the door and threw it open.

The room was small and painted in a brilliant white. The only noticeable feature in the room was a spiral staircase that disappeared through the ceiling. It seemed slightly out of place, especially given the extreme reliance on technology that the complex had. Unable to see another option, I climbed the staircase.

I quickly disappeared through the hole in the ceiling and entered another room. Each wall was completely covered by large touchscreens. The neon words "Welcome Kassidy," scrolled across each screen, before the wall in front of me slide across to reveal an elevator similar to the one earlier. "Hello Kassidy," the elevator said as I stepped inside. The doors slammed shut, and the elevator rocketed upwards.

The doors opened to reveal the room where I had left Kitt, only this time, there were multiple people there, who I hadn't seen before. Stood slightly away from the others was Jess. "Hello Kassidy. Allow me to introduce you to everyone," she said politely. "This is…" she began, gesturing towards a tall girl who appeared to be a similar age to the two of us.  
"Your biggest fan," she gushed, immediately walking over, her ponytail swishing back and forth. "I'm Ember," she told me.  
"It's nice to meet you," I told her, smiling slightly. Almost immediately, the others began swarming me like wasps, firing questions at me like bullets. Although there were only five of them, it was quite intimidating.

"Enough," Jess shouted, and immediately, the room fell into silence. "I'm sure Kassidy doesn't want to be attacked with your questions."  
"It's fine really," I said, not wanting to offend these people, whoever they were.  
"Sorry, that was rude," the boy closest to me said. He was about three or four inches shorter than me, had sandy coloured hair and dark green eyes. "I'm Oscar," he told me.  
"Hello," I replied.

The others each introduced themselves in turn. The short, auburn haired girl was called Seraphina, the shy girl with black hair introduced herself as Jennifer, and the blond boy was called Nathan. Directly after each of them had introduced themselves, they began asking questions, each talking over each other.  
"Kassidy won't be able to answer all of your questions at once," Kitt interrupted.  
"Thanks Kitt," I muttered, careful to make sure they didn't hear me.  
"Perhaps we should head over to the cafeteria," Jess said. "You can then ask one question each," Jess instructed them. The group immediately headed towards the lift. I couldn't help, for a moment, being suspicious of Jess.

"Are you coming?" she asked.  
"Of course," I replied. I quickly entered the lift. As the doors closed and the atmosphere became thick with chatter, I muttered into the comlink "Let me know if you find anything suspicious."  
"I've been through the entire network since I gained access. There isn't anything that could be suspicious…" Kitt replied.  
"Maybe there's a secondary network?" I questioned as the lift doors opened.  
"If there is, I'll find it," Kitt told me.

The group of us entered the cafeteria, and each grabbed a seat around the table in the middle. Two of them, whose names I had already forgotten, went to get some food. The girl, who I think was called Seraphina, began speaking to me. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" she asked hopefully.  
"Of course," I replied politely. I hoped that the questions wouldn't be ones about my past. There was no possibility of me answering any questions about that.  
"How did you do it?" she asked.  
"How did I do what?" I replied, unsure what exactly she was asking.  
"How did you program the first successful self-driving car?" she questioned.  
"You haven't seen the program?" I responded.  
"Of course I have, but it doesn't explain how you managed to get it to work." She pulled out her phone, and tapped the screen a few times, before bringing up a program which was very familiar to me, and also one I hoped I would never see again. "What made you think of using this algorithm here?" I answered her questions, each of which gradually increased in technicality. I noticed that the others were listening intently. I'd ended up with a bit of an audience. When I stopped talking, you could've heard a pin drop.

"How did you end up mixed in this parallel universe stuff?" somebody asked.  
"Just me being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess," I replied vaguely. No matter how much they questioned me, I refused to elaborate further. As it started getting late, I excused myself, and headed to the lift. Within a minute, I was stood in front of Kitt. "Did you manage to find anything?" I asked, almost dreading the answer. Jess was my friend, and I hated to doubt her, but all of her secrets had given me reason to not fully trust her.  
"There was no other network, but there is one room that is shielded from my scans," Kitt told me.  
"More secrets…" I muttered.

"I don't suppose you could give me directions?" I asked hopefully.  
"Of course," Kitt replied.  
"In that case, I'm going to investigate," I told him, heading back towards the elevator.  
"Good luck," was the reply as the doors closed, and the lift slowly travelled further underground.


	22. Chapter 21

Kitt:  
I tracked Kassidy’s movements through the comlink as she made her way along the corridor to the room in question. She reached a junction, and I informed her to take the left one. I was about to tell her the next direction to take, but I was distracted by the sudden access to scan the room. For some reason, the shields had been taken down, and I now had a clear idea of its layout and contents.

“Kassidy,” I said through the comlink.  
“Yes Kitt?” she replied almost instantly.  
“The shields were taken down…”  
“So what’s in there?” she asked, interrupting me.  
“It appears to be a workshop,” I informed her.  
“If it’s just a workshop, then why would it have been hidden?”   
“Are you still going to investigate?”  
“I’m almost there now…”  
“It’s the third door on your left.” I told her.

I maintained a thorough watch over the immediate area around the room. It wouldn’t have been the best thing for Kassidy to be caught snooping, especially if her ‘friend’ turned out to be conspiring against us. “Kitt?” Kassidy said.  
“Yes,” I replied.   
“You won’t believe what I’m seeing in here. There are blueprints that look like…” Kassidy began. I then detected three people headed her way.  
“Kassidy, I hate to interrupt, but there are three people headed your way. One of them is Jess, and the other two are unknown.”  
“Any way I can escape?” she questioned.   
“Not without walking past them. I suggest hiding in the cupboard to your left.” I watched through the security camera as she climbed into the cupboard and shut the door. Not a moment later, the door opened, and the three of them walked in.

I decided to use the comlink to listen in on what was going on. Jess closed the door, as the two men with her walked around the room, glancing at the blueprints that lined the walls. Both were dressed in smart black suits and had dark brown hair. The only difference worth mentioning was that one was two inches taller than the other. I tried to identify what the blueprints were through the camera, but my efforts provided no results.

“Why are you here?” Jess snapped as she turned to face them. The two men stopped their patrol of the room.  
“We’re here to ascertain your progress with replicating what we want,” the two of them said at the exact same time.   
“Well, surely you could have just sent an email,” Jess replied.  
“We needed to see your progress for ourselves, and I must say, there hasn’t been much of it…” the taller one remarked.  
“I just need more time…” Jess began, before she was loudly interrupted by the shorter man.  
“You’re out of time!” he shouted, and Jess became silent. “Your efforts haven’t been successful, and so we have a new task for you,” he told her ominously. “We have brought it across to this world. What we want now is for you to find the Knight Industries Two Thousand and bring it to us.”  
“You don’t need to steal the technology, I just need a few more weeks…”  
“You’ve had your chance,” he said flatly. “Now it’s time to do things our way…”  
“We’ll show ourselves out,” the other informed her before the two of them walked out. 

I watched on the cameras until they had left the building, before I spoke to Kassidy again. “Kassidy?” She opted not to answer. The cameras for the workshop showed Jess leaning against the wall, tears in her eyes. Slowly, she sunk to the floor, curling up into a ball as silent tears ran down her face. Kassidy chose that moment to climb out the cabinet.  
“I think it’s time you told me what’s going on,” she said. Jess, obviously startled quickly stood up and looked around until her eyes settled on Kassidy.   
“You heard all of that?” she asked.  
“I did,” Jess replied simply.  
“You know I’m not going to turn you over to them, right?” she asked. Kassidy nodded, before getting right back to the heart of the matter. “What’s going on?” Kassidy asked again. Jess remained silent. “Please… I need to know,” Kassidy continued.

“When I told I got caught breaking into a network, that was true. That however, wasn’t the reason I got offered this job…” Jess paused for a moment to pull herself together. “I’d found a file, the file contained detailed plans for the theft of a technology that I thought was nothing more than a work of fiction. The plan detailed combining universal shift technology with a new development to steal this technology from the past in another universe and bring it here…” she stopped as tears began to fall down her face once again.  
“What happened next?” Kassidy said.  
“It was less than four hours later when they turned up at my door. They said that I knew too much… that I had to work for them or…” The end of her sentence didn’t need saying. “I accepted the job offer, and then they gave me further information about their schemes. When they mentioned they were after Kitt, I did everything I could to prevent this from happening. I even tried to replicate the technology they were after… but it didn’t work…and they went through with it anyway… and now you’re in danger, and I don’t know what to do…”

“You did everything you could, given the circumstances,” I told her before Kassidy could respond.  
“I’m so sorry Kitt…” she said as she covered her face with her hands.  
“You did the best you could, Jess,” Kassidy told her.  
“I can’t help but have one question for you.” I told her. “What did you mean steal from the past?”  
“When you travelled to this universe, you travelled in time as well…” she paused for a few seconds. “Time travel attempts to right itself by ensuring the memories of the person who travelled matches the time.” I pondered her answer for a moment.  
“So my memories are being altered every second that I am here?”  
“Didn’t you find it odd how you suddenly had knowledge of 21st century technology, when you’re from the 80s?” The 21st century? That meant that I was in a completely different millennium! How had I not realised this sooner. “I guess that the whole time correcting itself was subtle…” Jess continued. Is this permanent? Will I be able to go home? A million questions flew through my thoughts in a swarm, buzzing like flies.

Eventually, I asked the most important question “Will I be able to go home?”


	23. Chapter 22

Kassidy:

“Slow down a minute… what you’re saying is that Kitt is not only from another universe, but also from another time?”  
“That’s what I said,” Jess replied. I took a moment to think.  
“So how can we go about getting him back to where and when he came from?” I asked. I knew nothing about the possibility or logistics of time travel and so would be no help.  
“I thought you might have worked it out,” Jess told me. “You managed communication to another universe through time, so…”  
“You thought I knew what I was doing,” I interrupted. “I had no idea that the device allowed communication to another time. I just based it on the device I saw…”

A silence settled over the room. Jess looked as though we had been defeated already. “What is it?” I asked.  
“If you don’t know enough about it, then we’ve lost. I tried replicating the device just as you did. I spent months on it, and I got nowhere. If we had a device, then we would be able to get Kitt home…”  
“Then we need to get one,” I told Jess. If we needed a device, then I would find a way to get one. I was willing to do anything to get the Kitt, who had become my friend, out of this.  
“What do you have in mind?” Jess asked, before immediately realising what my plan was going to be. She knew me too well. “No. No way.”  
“We know who has a device… so we need to get one from them.”  
“It’s too risky…” she argued.  
“But it’s our only option,” I countered immediately.

“Do I get a say in this?” Kitt suddenly asked through the comlink. In our discussion, we had completely forgotten to give the most important person a say in what we were possibly going to attempt. “Of course,” Jess and I said at the same time.  
“In that case, would you care to share the exact details of your plan?” Kitt asked.  
“Of course,” I replied.

I proceeded to provide the details for Kitt. I explained how I wanted to use Jess’ involvement in this mess to gain access to the building where the universal shift device would be. We would pretend that Jess would be turning Kitt over to them, at which point, Kitt would provide a distraction so I can sneak in and collect the device, before the three of us would meet up one block away. The three of us will then make our escape. Once achieved, the device could then be used to transport Kitt back to the time and universe where he belongs.

“I think it’s too risky. There’s too many ways this can go wrong.” Kitt said the minute that I was finished describing exactly what my plan entailed.  
“Do have any other alternative?” I asked. The silence that followed was answer enough. “So that’s what we’re going to do,” I told them.  
“You could die,” Kitt said. “And I can’t allow that. My programming prevents me from endangering human life.”  
“I will do what I have to, with or without your help,” I informed him.  
“We could always use your manual override,” Jess added.  
“We will not,” I argued immediately. Kitt was his own person, and to use a manual override would be taking away his freedom. He had the right to make his own decisions.  
“I’ll help,” Kitt confirmed.

We spent the next couple of hours preparing, before parting ways to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. I headed to my room, with direction from Kitt, I still didn’t know my way around, and attempted to get some rest. I spent what felt like forever tossing and turning, but unable to get any sleep. Everything that had happened would conclude tomorrow. The entire future hung in the balance, and that made me nervous to say the least. Finally, I have up and went to find Kitt. I used the elevator in the lab near my room.

The doors opened to reveal Kitt just as he was when I last saw him. The black paint glittering in the harsh artificial light. The only change from earlier was that the scanner wasn’t casting its warm glow throughout the room. It was switched off, so I assumed that he had decided to power off until tomorrow. Just as I turned to leave again, the familiar light turned on, casting a red glow on the wall next to the lift. “I’m sorry Kassidy, I didn’t notice you to start with. I had powered down for the night,” he informed me.  
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you,” I replied.  
“Let me guess, you couldn’t sleep?” Kitt asked, concerned.  
“How did you know?” I asked jokingly.  
“It’s alright to be nervous Kassidy.”  
“Well you seem to be fine about it,” I replied.

“I’m used to people going through with reckless plans,” he told me. The drivers side door opened immediately after he said that, so I climbed in. “People have tried to take my technology for their nefarious purposes before,” he informed me.   
“What happened?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.  
“Well,” Kitt said before pausing for a moment. “Perhaps that story is better suited for another time.” He was avoiding the question, and I knew it. Obviously, whatever happened couldn’t have been good, or he wouldn’t have hesitated in telling me. I decided not to ask any further questions, instead taking in the silence that followed the end of our conversation.

That silence was then broken by the sound of soft music being played. It took me a few seconds to recall the composer of the piece.  
“Beethoven?” I asked.  
“I didn’t take you for a fan of classical music,” Kitt said.  
“My music tastes are a bit mixed. I listen to stuff like rock music, but I like a bit of classical too,” I replied.  
“I don’t understand how people can call that horrendous noise music.”  
“Not a fan of rock and roll then?” I said jokingly. Kitt decided not to bother with a response to that.

I sat listening to the music for a while. Each successive piece helped me to, for a short while, forget about tomorrow, and how everything would be decided in the next few hours.


	24. Chapter 23

Kassidy:

The three of us left early the next morning. Despite the long journey we had, I opted to not get involved in any sort of conversation. I was grateful for the silence as I watched the scenery change. It gave me something to focus on as Kitt drove us towards our destination. Just as we reached the outskirts of the city, Kitt pulled to a stop.

“Good luck,” Jess told me, as I opened the door.  
“Be careful Kassidy,” Kitt said simply.   
“I’ll see you inside,” I replied. I watched as Jess and Kitt drove away, before heading to the tunnel. It didn’t take me long to locate it, despite the unusual location of the entrance. I took a few minutes to get through the thick bushes which covered the entrance and, once I did, I was immediately plunged into darkness. I fumbled about in the pitch black until I could find the torch I’d put in my pocket and switched it on. The beam of light immediately brightened the tunnel, and I was able to see my surroundings.

The tunnel was about two meters wide, and the cold concrete walls were covered in a spiderweb of vines that had lost their leaves long ago. As I made my way further in, I could see the skeletons of various wildlife that had mistakenly wondered inside. Everything about this tunnel seemed to threaten imminent death, but I continued anyway. I had to continue. 

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, I reached the first junction. According to Jess, these tunnels could be compared to the labyrinth in Greek mythology, without the minotaur of course. I pulled the map out of my pocket and checked which way I should go. The route Jess had drawn for me the night before showed that I needed to make a left.

After making my way through many, many similar junctions, I reached the building, or rather the trapdoor which was my way into the building. The only issue was that the ceiling was too high for me to actually reach it, let alone open the door that stood between me and the success of my plan. In a slightly ridiculous attempt to open it, I decided to try jumping up towards the ceiling, which didn’t work, even if I gave myself a run up. I couldn’t even get my fingertips to touch the ceiling.   
I was about to attempt to use the dead vines to climb the wall, and possibly breaking my neck in the process, when a beep informed me that Kitt was attempting to communicate with me. “What is it?” I asked. 

“I was asked to tell you that there’s a ladder in a hidden in a compartment at the last junction,” Kitt informed me.  
“Thanks for letting me know,” I replied. I quickly headed to the previous junction, and almost immediately found the controls to open the compartment. The ladder that was there was covered in rust and looked as though it would probably violate some sort of health and safety regulation, but at this point, I had no other option. I quickly carried the ladder over to the trap door and leaned it against the wall. Carefully, I climbed the ladder and shoved the trapdoor open just enough so I could see exactly what was happening. At this point, timing was key. 

Kitt and Jess entered through the open door on the far side of the room. As soon as Kitt’s engine was switched off, Jess was ordered out of the vehicle by someone who I could say I knew quite well. I shifted my focus to the rest of the room. The device was located on a small table to the left of Kitt. The only issue was, at the moment, the table was in every person’s line of sight. I slowly opened the trap door further, and Kitt, having detected the movement, switched on his engine, and smashed straight through the door behind him, providing the distraction I needed. I quickly climbed up into the room and sprinted towards the device.

I got less than two metres before I was violently tackled to the ground. Kitt didn’t get far either, almost immediately being returned to the space where he had been parked, only this time covered in a large number of dents, and a large crack across the back window.   
“This really is effective at breaking down the molecular bonded shell,” Dr Smith commented, holding a spray bottle up to the light. “Don’t you think Kassidy?” he said, addressing me. Once my hands were tied, I was brought over by one of his… minions. I opted to not speak, instead glaring at him with such an intensity that if looks could kill, then he would be dead at least ten times over.  
“You thought I wouldn’t be suspicious?” he asked. “I knew right from the start that you had met Kitt, so what a surprise when the car is brought to me after you had obviously worked out what was going on.”  
“Why?” I asked.  
“Hoping for a confession?” he laughed. “I’m not some fictional villain… I know better than to start monologuing.” He paused for a moment. “It’s a shame that you’re now going to have to die. This could have gone so differently but I can’t allow you to sabotage everything I’ve worked for,” he informed me.

“She won’t be the one sabotaging you,” Jess said quietly. The immediate response was complete and utter silence. The distraction gave me the chance to try and free my hands from the rope, without attracting the immediate attention of the numerous minions dotted around. Jess held up the device. “I believe I made my views on this little issue clear from the start.”  
“And I believe I made it clear what would happen if you tried to oppose us,” a young woman said, entering the room. With a single hand motion, multiple guns were pointed at Jess. “Put the universal shift device down,” she ordered. Jess ignored her.  
“Jess,” I said. “Don’t play the hero.” After a moment’s hesitation, she put the device on the table.  
“Thank you,” the woman said, a smirk carved on her face.

“You’ve done what I’ve asked?” she asked Dr Smith.  
“You can see that for yourself,” he replied, gesturing towards Kitt. As she walked over, I managed to get one of my hands free from my restraints. It didn’t take long for me to free the other hand after that.  
“I assume there was some sort of resistance,” she said addressing Dr Smith.  
“Yes, I was just dealing with that when you arrived,” he replied.  
“And I assume that she was the mastermind behind this,” she told him. “The famous Kassidy Marsh.” She walked over toward me. “I would’ve thought you’d have learned to stop meddling with things after the accident.” She made direct eye contact as she said this.

“I guess I just don’t learn,” I snapped in reply. Her immediate response was to slap me. The sound echoed loudly throughout the room. “Don’t speak. You’ve been enough of a nuisance as it is.” She then walked over to the table and picked up the device, before walking over to stand next to me. “Kill her,” she ordered. As soon as she spoke, I punched her in the face, before snatching the device from her hands. “Thanks,” I told her, before running towards Kitt, only to have the device knocked out of my hands, by one of their lackeys. Then immediately having a gun pressed to the side of my head by Jess. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the device fell, hitting the floor with a loud bang.

“Pick up the device,” she ordered, a cold expression on her face. I obeyed, picking up the device. “From what I can tell, it’s just the stability element that’s been broken,” she whispered in my ear. “You can activate it, but not remotely. If you send Kitt back, then you’ll have to go with him.”  
“For all I know it will kill me,” I muttered back. “Why should I accept help from someone whose gone from helping me, to pointing a gun at my head?”  
“Because I’m not going to shoot you,” she told me, before turning the gun on the woman in charge. “Go,” she shouted.

There was no time to argue with her. I did as she asked, but when the first bang of a gunshot went off, I couldn’t help but glance back. I climbed inside Kitt and closed the door. The moment the door was closed, Kitt started the engine and intercepted a bullet that would’ve hit Jess, even though he no longer had molecular shell to protect him. The bullet smashed through the right window showering the backseat with glass. 

“Jess. You have to come with us,” I told her. “You’ve risked enough.”  
“This is the only way,” Jess said simply. “I helped get us into this mess, so I’ll get us out of it.”  
“Jess, this is suicide,” I exclaimed, as another bullet hit Kitt. I couldn’t let her do this. Nobody else should die because of me. I’d lost my Mum and my brother, and I wasn’t about to lose a friend too.  
“This is the only way to stop this.”  
“There has to be another way.”  
“I’ll be fine,” she told me as she reached for the device and hit the button to transport us. “Goodbye,” she said as she stepped quickly away.  
“No!” I shouted. “Jess! You can’t do this!”

Kitt and I were then engulfed in a bright light. The next thing I knew, we were in a desert, which immediately blurred before my eyes as tears began to fall.


End file.
